Pallet construction



Nov. 23, 1965 w. l. FLEMING ETAL 3,219,252

PALLET CONSTRUCTION Original Filed Jan. 27. 1961 2 eetse 1 fl l/fA/TOESP1641755 HEM/M6 3y 275/9555714XP5/Z/(K Nov. 23, 1965 w. l. FLEMING ETAL3,219,252

PALLET CONSTRUCTION Original Filed Jan. 27, 1961 2 he t he 2 [/VVE/VTO/E6 I W44 75,? A FzfM/A #fPBZQT/l. K8574 /o United States Patent f3,219,252 PALLET CONSTRUCTION Walter I. Fleming, Dundee, Ill., andHerbert A. Kreilick,

Webster Groves, Mo., assignors to Woodkor Corporation, a corporation ofIllinois Original application Jan. 27, 1961, Ser. No. 85,430, new PatentN0. 3,135,228, dated June 2, 1964. Divided and this application Oct. 4,1963, Ser. No. 313,848

3 Claims. (Cl. 229-6) This application is a division of applicationSerial No. 85,430, filed January 27, 1961, now Patent No. 3,135,228,dated June 2, 1964.

This invention relates to improvements in pallets used for mountingloads for storage and/or ready for handling by fork-lift trucks.

The main objects of this invention are to provide an improved structureof pallets used for stacking loads for either storage or for transportfrom place to place on forklift trucks; to provide pallets of this kindof an improved material and stru \tural form including a containermounted thereon; and to provide an improved pallet of this kind which byvirtue of the material and structural form is very inexpensive tomanufacture and in use of great stable rigidity and durable utility.

Several embodiments of this invention have been developed some of whichare the subject of copending application Serial No. 85,430 of which thisis a division now Patent No. 3,135,228, dated June 2, 1964.

In the particular adaptation shown in the accompanying drawing:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of one form of a base element structuredin accordance with this invention;

FIG. 2 is a very much enlarged, fragmentary, perspective viewillustrative of the material and structural form of the base elementshown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a much enlarged, fragmentary, cross-sectional view taken onthe plane of the line 33 of FIG. 2, showing the relative thicknesses ofthe laminated materials;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a carton-type pallet the base elementfor which is of the form shown in FIG. 1, parts being broken away;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged, fragmentary, sectional detail taken on the planeof the line 5-5 of FIG. 4, showing a staple-bonding of carton and baseelement;

FIG. 6 is a bottom perspective view of a carton-type pallet wherein thebase element comprises a plurality of narrow strips of a structure andcontour shown in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 7 is a perspective view, with parts broken away, of a carton-typepallet without a top.

The essential concept of this invention involves a carton mounted on andbonded to a base element structured from thin layers of tough-texturedpaper or thin woodveneer laminated over a comparatively-thickwood-veneer core and having spaced parallel corrugations extending inone dimension thereof.

A pallet embodying the foregoing concept comprises a carton 10 of theconventional cardboard structure, attached to a base element 11 (11'),composed of woodveneer core 12 over which is laminated thin paper sheets13 (or thin Wood-veneer), the carton being bonded to the contactingareas of the supporting base element 11 (11').

The core 12 of this base element 11, preferably is woodveneer such asused for the core of plywood. The laminated sheets 13 preferably areeither tough-textured paper such, for example, as that commonly referredto as kraft paper, or a very thin wood-veneer. A kraft paper laminatedwood-veneer core of this kind is available commercially and known in thetrade by the name Craveneer.

3,219,252 Patented Nov. 23, 1965 Whatever the materials constituting thebase element 11, it is formed with parallel corrugations 15 extending inone dimension of the base element 11. As shown in FIGS. 1-5, 7, thereare four such corrugations, two of which are disposed inwardly adjacentthe respective lateral edges of the base element 11 and two of which areevenly spaced between the two laterally-disposed corrugations. In FIG. 4there are three such corrugations, two of which are disposed inwardlyadjacent the lateral edges of the base element 11 and the third isdisposed substantially medially of the two laterally-disposedcorrugations.

In the carton-type pallet as herein shown in FIG. 4, the carton 10 maybe of conventional form wherein the bottom comprises narrow flaps 17mitered along their edges to permit their disposition in a comomn plane.Or, it may be of the conventional form wherein the bottom flaps aredimensioned to overlap and, generally, are bonded together in theiroverlapping areas.

In the adaptation shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 the carton 10 is of the firstof the above-mentioned forms. These flaps 17 here are shown bonded bystaples 18 to contacting portions of the base elements 11 between theparallel cormgations 15. The flaps 17 also might be bonded to baseelement 11 by an adhesive, or an adhesive might be the alternative tostaples.

In the adaptation shown in FIG. 6 the carton 10 is of the second of theabove-mentioned forms. Here the base element 11 consists of three narrowcorrugated strips of the same contour as the base element shown inFIG. 1. These three strips are of lengths equal to one dimension of thecarton bottom. The strips are bonded to the bottom of the carton 10 inspaced parallel relationship to the other dimension of the bottom withthe corrugations of the three strips aligned in parallel relationship tothe one bottom dimension. The bonding of the strips to the carton bottommay be by staples and/or an adhesive. The staples are shown at 18.

In FIG. 7 the carton box 10' shown is of less depth than the carton ofFIGS. 4 and 6 and is manufactured without the usual top flaps. The sidewalls 19 are provided with integrally formed flaps 20 which are bent atright angles inwardly as clearly shown in the cutaway portion of thisfigure.

The end flaps 21 are elongated and partially bent over the flaps 20 withthe free ends 22 thereof again bent to lie in a plane parallel to thebox bottom wall 23 and be anchored thereto by staples 18 which alsoextend into the areas of the base element between the parallelcorrugations 15.

It should be obvious that the strip base element, shown in FIG. 6, mightreadily be used with the carton 10' of FIG. 7.

However heavily-loaded such a carton pallet may be, there is nolikelihood of the collapse of the base element 11 (11'). This is assuredsince there can be no spreading of the base element because of thestaple and/ or adhesive bonding of the contacting areas of the cartonbottom with the base element between its corrugations.

Although but one specific embodiment of this invention is herein shownand described it will be understood that details of the constructionshown may be altered or omitted without departing from the spirit of theinvention as defined by the following claims.

We claim:

1. A load-supporting pallet comprising a carton, a base elementstructured from thin layers of tough-textured paper laminated on acontinuous wood-veneer core and formed with spaced parallel corrugationsextending in one dimension, the bottom of the carton constituting acargosupporting deck overlying one corrugated face of the base elementand bonded to the base element along contacting areas to retain thecorrugated character of the base element when subjected to supporting aload.

2. A load-supporting pallet as set forth in claim 1 wherein the baseelement is one piece of the same dimension as the bottom of the carton.

3. A load-supporting pallet as set forth in claim 1 wherein the baseelement is in the form of separate strips each of a length equal to onedimension of the carton bottom and are disposed in spaced parallelrelationship to 1 the other dimension of the carton bottom with thecorru- 4 gations of the strips aligned in parallel relationship to theone dimension of the carton bottom.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,892,527 12/1932Gray 22914 2,544,743 3/1951 Vrabcak 10855 X 3,073,500 1/1963 Goodrich eta1. 229-14 3,135,128 6/1964 Fleming et a1. 108-55 FRANKLIN T. GARRETT,Primary Examiner.

1. A LOAD-SUPPORTING PALLET COMPRISING A CARTON, A BASE ELEMENTSTRUCTURED FROM THIN LAYERS OF TOUGH-TEXTURED PAPER LAMINATED ON ACONTINUOUS WOOD-VENEER CORE AND FORMED WITH SPACED PARALLEL CORRUGATIONSEXTENDING IN ONE DIMENSION, THE BOTTOM OF THE CARTON CONSTITUTING ACARGOSUPPORTING DECK OVERLYING ONE CORRUGATED FACE OF THE BASE ELEMENTAND BONDED TO THE BASE ELEMENT ALONG CONTACTING AREAS TO RETAIN THECORRUGATED CHARACTER OF THE BASE ELEMENT WHEN SUBJECTED TO SUPPORTING ALOAD.